The Rev. Billy McClendon, who will officiate at Pence’s memorial service, says he worked with Pence at the Eufaula Parks and Recreation Department.

The number of tornadoes confirmed to have touched down in a deadly weekend outbreak across the Southeast has risen to at least 36.

Survey teams for the National Weather Service found evidence of the twisters in Alabama, Georgia, Florida and South Carolina.

The most powerful was an E4 tornado blamed for killing 23 people Sunday in rural Lee County, Alabama. Its destructive winds reached 170 mph (274 kph) as it carved a path of destruction nearly a mile wide. The tornado trekked nearly 70 miles (113 kilometres) from western Alabama into Georgia after crossing the Chattahoochee River at the state line.